It is now common for mobile device to have at least one high-resolution camera, as well as a high-resolution touch-sensitive display component, such as a touch screen which includes both an optical display and a touch-sensitive panel. Such components serve to provide valuable functional capabilities to mobile devices, due (at least in part) to the high resolution of these components. For example, in some mobile devices, a digital viewfinder capability is provided by which an image about to be captured by a digital camera can be displayed prior to the image capture occurring (prior to the picture being taken/recorded). Notwithstanding these advantageous capabilities, there typically exists a system-response temporal latency or time delay between when a visual event occurs in real time, when an image corresponding to that event can be captured by the camera, and when an image (or other information) corresponding or based upon that event can be rendered on the optical display. Such a temporal latency can be referred to as the “camera-to-display latency” and, as illustrated figuratively in FIG. 8 (Prior Art), equals the sum of five components, namely, a camera capture latency 2, a camera bus latency 4, a graphics processing unit/central processing unit (GPU/CPU) post-processing latency 6, a GPU-to-display latency 8, and a display frame latency 10.
Such a temporal latency, although acceptable from the standpoint of mobile device performance, nevertheless is something that should be taken into account during design, programming, and/or operation of the mobile device. That is, to achieve desired operation of the mobile device, it is desirable to characterize this temporal latency as a part of platform optimization, and preferably this characterizing can be accomplished quickly. That said, conventional optical-event timing equipment is generally expensive and complex, especially image-processing equipment.
For at least these reasons, as well as possibly others, it would be advantageous if a new method and/or system could be developed for determining or estimating the temporal latency, in a mobile device or other device, between the operation of an optical sensing component (such as a camera) in detecting a visual event and corresponding actuation of a touch-sensitive display component (such as a touch screen) resulting from or based upon the detected event.